


Death does not diminish

by TonalModulator



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Gen, OC death, pre-Nerevarine prophecies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25395895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonalModulator/pseuds/TonalModulator
Summary: Llevura and Milia go on the raid to take back Red Mountain from the Sixth House. Milia dies.
Relationships: Female Dunmer Vestige & Female Dunmer Vestige, Llevura Ranith (Vestige OC) & Milia Nyrandil (Vestige OC), Llevura Ranith (Vestige OC) & Talvini (Vestige OC), Milia Nyrandil (Vestige OC)/Talvini (Vestige OC)
Kudos: 3





	Death does not diminish

**Author's Note:**

> This is sort of a prequel to [Mortal Wound](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23421670).

###  3E 417

Citadel Dagoth Ur was crawling with ash creatures—more of them than Hand Llevura had ever seen in one place, without a doubt. It felt as though as soon as they took one out, three more would appear. If she had time to think about it, she would have been surprised that they had even made it this far into the outer facility, even though there was so much farther to go. She did not want to imagine where they would be without her Lady’s healing and fortifying blessings supporting her and her fellow Hands of Almalexia and the Buoyant Armigers who fought alongside them.

One of the Armigers, Milia, brought extra comfort to be fighting beside her. They had known each other since the mid-Second era, when time was fuzzy and they had each gone up against Molag Bal to end the Planemeld. Despite their endless rivalry and more-than-occasional bickering, she was fairly confident that she could consider Milia a friend, and hoped Milia would say the same about her. If nothing else, she was good in a fight and loyal to her gods, and they needed that if this raid was going to have any chance at success.

While Llevura jabbed the creatures with her spear of divine light, Milia engulfed them in fire and took them down with her molten whip. With all that was going on around them, Llevura found it best to keep the majority of her attention on the enemies directly in front of them. Their gods and the mages behind the lines could keep watch on the whole scene and make calls as needed. The enemies were falling quickly enough, but still more filled in the gaps. It was almost as if they were being revived somehow. Some sort of vile necromancy? She didn’t want to think about it.

“Llev, look out!”

Llevura felt a hip-check, but steeled herself against it on instinct. Only after a fraction of a second of looking around did she notice the Ascended Sleeper shooting a cloud of poison directly at her. She gave in to Milia’s shove and let herself fall out of the way, but her hesitation lasted long enough that Milia was still in the cloud’s path when it reached them, hitting her in the chest and knocking her down.

When Milia did not immediately get up, Llevura scrambled over and dragged her away from the front lines, shouting to their allies to fill in the gap. Already Milia was coughing and barely responding to being pulled, whereas Llevura expected her to be fighting her at every step. She cast a purification with one hand to try to prevent the poison from progressing further. They reached a wall, and she helped Milia sit up against it.

“Shit,” Milia said weakly. “That stuff hurts.”

“Are you okay?”

Milia coughed and looked into her glove. “Nah.” She turned her hand outward to show Llevura. “That’s blood.”

“Do you need a potion?” Llevura asked.

“I have one.” Milia reached into her pocket and took out a vial. “Won’t do me much good, but it might give me enough time to say my death rites. Couldn’t hurt, anyway.”

“Mil…”

Milia held up a finger to silence her and drank the potion. Then, in a barely stronger voice, she said, “Yeah, that might have given me a few extra seconds.”

“Great, that should be enough for me to get a healer.”

“No,” she said. “I’m beyond help. The group needs all the healing they can get.”

“Almalexia is focusing on the group,” Llevura said. “They can spare one healer for five seconds.” She started to stand up.

“Llev,  _ no! _ ” Milia yanked Llevura back down by the arm and then broke into a coughing fit. After catching her breath, she said, “I don’t have enough time. Don’t leave me alone.”

Llevura still wanted to object, but one look at the blood on Milia’s lips told her that she was right. She hesitantly sat back down.

“Why would you give your life for me?” Llevura asked. “You hardly even like me.”

Milia opened her arms in a gesture of confusion. “You’re one of my oldest friends. You might be an insufferable Hand sometimes, but I wasn’t going to just let you die.” She took a glove off and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “If you really want to do something, you could start by thanking me.”

“Of course,” Llevura said quietly. “Thank you.”

“And you could promise you’ll make it out of here. Because if you die, then I died for nothing, and that would suck.”

“I promise.”

“Good.”

Milia’s eyes began to drift shut, but she forced them open again. It was painful for Llevura to see her like this; she was usually so vital, ready to fight anything. But, then, she assumed it was more painful for Milia to be experiencing it.

“Tell Talvini what happened. Make sure to tell her how heroic I was,” Milia said with a tired, wry smile, though her voice was growing even weaker. “Maybe leave out the part about coughing up blood.”

“I’ll tell her,” Llevura said. “I’ll tell her you took out countless ash creatures and saved my life.”

“Thanks.” Milia looked satisfied for a brief moment, but it was quickly replaced with an expression of dread and incredible vulnerability. She took off her other glove and reached for Llevura’s hand. Llevura took her own glove off and grasped her hand. They both knew what was coming. They had both been there more times than they could count, lost friends and allies in the field. But it was never easy, least of all for the dying.

“Will you help me say my death rites?” Milia whispered.

“Of course,” Llevura said.

"Osuhn or ALMSIVI yilag, sunna adur,Blessed are we who serve ALMSIVI." they said in unison. Milia closed her eyes as they spoke. "Dra bahr abehntik-balmarig;Death does not diminish; as shaln ehni lorna gah khestis-balmarig.the ghost gilds with glory. Sunna ALMSIVI...Blessed ALMSIVI..."

Milia's voice faded to nothing.

"...damjulan muhrhal, muhr, shaln,...through birth, life, ghost." Llevura finished in a whisper. "Three guide your soul, Milia."

Llevura held onto Milia’s hand for a second longer, and then set it down gently by her side. She knew she had to get back to the fight. She needed to make sure Milia’s sacrifice was worthwhile.

Behind her, she heard shouting and the hum of divine power, louder than before. She turned around to see that the ash creatures had broken through the lines and were swarming Almalexia and Sotha Sil. She stood up and channeled her spear, but a wave of magical energy washed over the chamber, blinding her.

When her vision returned, they were in the Palace of Vivec. The few ash creatures who had been caught in Vivec’s teleportation spell were easily dispatched, and then they were able to let their guard down, though it was not yet time to relax. Orders flew around the room: gather the dead, tend to the wounded, guard the door, debrief on what went wrong.

Three had died during the fight: two Armigers and a Hand. A surprisingly low number that did not make Llevura feel even the slightest bit better. When the bodies were gathered and identified, she and one other, an Armiger, were ordered to inform the families.

“Milia was your friend, wasn’t she?” the Armiger asked.

Llevura nodded solemnly. “She asked me to tell her wife what happened.”

“You should do that, then,” the Armiger said. “I’ll take care of the other two.”

On her way out, Llevura paused by the two Armigers guarding the doors to the Palace.

“If an old Telvanni mage, around my age, comes by and demands entry, don’t give her  _ too _ much trouble,” she said. “It won’t end well for anyone.”

* * *

Tel Galen was located on a secret island just southeast of Sadrith Mora, cloaked from view of most people. Luckily, Llevura was one of the few attuned to it, and so she was able to recall there with ease.

“Milia?” Talvini called down from the upper levels as soon as Llevura entered the tower. There was an anxiety in her voice that made Llevura’s heart ache.

“Llevura,” she corrected as Talvini floated down the tower shaft and into view.

“Oh, Llevura, it’s good to see you,” Talvini said politely, though there was clear worry in her eyes. “You didn’t go on the raid? Are you anxious about it too? I’ve been worrying all day, if I’m being honest. Can barely think about anything else. Come, I was just making tea.”

“Actually, I did go on the raid,” Llevura said cautiously. “That’s what I came here to talk about. Maybe we should sit down.”

The worry on Talvini’s face deepened a hundredfold. “Right…yes. Let’s sit.”

They floated up to the kitchen area, where Talvini absentmindedly poured two cups of tea and sat down at the table, her brow knitted with worry the whole time. After a moment, she locked her eyes on Llevura across from her and waited for her to speak.

Llevura avoided her gaze and nervously twisted the mug on the table. She needed some time to consider how to break the news. This was always the hard part, especially when talking to a friend.

“Tal, I’m sorry.” She looked up at Talvini and saw that the worry had been replaced with devastation. Of course she knew what she was going to say, but that did not make it any easier. "Milia…she died during the raid. She fought incredibly valiantly—I can’t imagine where we would be without her—but she died protecting me from an Ascended Sleeper’s attack. She saved my life.

“I was with her in her last moments. She wanted me to tell you how heroic she was—and by the Three, she was amazing. I held her hand and helped her say her death rites. I don’t know if that’s any comfort—”

She was interrupted by Talvini pushing away from the table and coming over to her, throwing her arms around her and sobbing into her shoulder. It was enough to push Llevura over the edge and finally let out the tears she had been holding in since she watched Milia take the poison to the chest.

“It is some comfort,” Talvini said after a time. “But she’s my Mils, and she’s  _ gone. _ ”

They stayed like that for a while, though Tal eventually dragged her chair over so that she could sit. Finally, she let go of her and took a sip of tea.

“Why was she allowed to go?” she asked, her eyes focused on nothing in particular. She glanced back at Llevura and added, “And I don’t mean that you should have died in her stead. Neither of you should have been on that raid. You’re too old for that sort of thing.”

Llevura had to admit that she had a point. She and Milia were among the oldest in their respective factions, certainly among those on the raid.

“I suppose we’ve always shown ourselves to be worthy—”

“So they should let you retire with honor!” Talvini said. “Honestly, sometimes I wonder whether they’re—Never mind. Sorry. Bad habit.”

Llevura could extrapolate easily enough, and while she would never openly admit to any wondering of her own, she found it hard to disagree. She took a sip of tea to hide any expressions on her face.

After another moment’s contemplation, Talvini asked, “Were you able to get her body out of there?”

“Yes, her body is in the Palace of Vivec,” Llevura said. “They’re not really accepting visitors, but…”

“…they’ll just have to make an exception,” Talvini finished absently. “Maybe while I’m there, I can ask why they thought it was wise to send old mer into Red Mountain.” She shook her head and turned her attention back on Llevura. “Thank you for being there for her. I’m glad she had a friend in her last moments.”

“Being there for her was the least I could do after…after what she did for me,” Llevura said. “I know I’ve already said it, but she really was a hero. I can’t pretend my life was worth more than hers, but I will always remember and honor her sacrifice.”

She could feel herself on the verge of tears again, and decided to take her leave before burdening Talvini further. “I should return to Vivec. Should I tell them to expect you?”

“Please do,” Talvini said. “I’ll be by shortly. I just need to…gather myself.”

“Take your time.” They stood up and exchanged one more hug before Llevura left. “Three keep you, Tal. Let me know if you need anything.”

**Author's Note:**

> The death rites are three lines from The Book of Dawn and Dusk that felt appropriate, translated into Dunmeris.


End file.
